Tim Turner has signed a professional contract with the San Diego Padres

Thursday, October 28, 2004

(Oct. 28, 2004) - Former East Tennessee State baseball player Tim Turner (Marietta, Ga.) recently signed with Major League Baseball's San Diego Padres after participating in a tryout in Chicago, Ill.

Tim will travel to spring training in March in Peoria, Ariz. and will begin playing for one of San Diego's minor-league affiliates in April. Although he split his time at ETSU as a pitcher and an outfielder, Turner will concentrate on the outfield in the Padres organization.

Turner hit .275 over his four seasons with the Buccaneers, hitting 10 home runs, driving in 69 runs and scoring 92 others. On the mound, Tim won 11 games for the Bucs, pitching 268.2 innings in his career.

Tim is near the top on several ETSU all-time record lists. He is second in Buccaneer history in strikeouts (259), second in stolen bases (48) and tied for second in games started (46). Tim was only thrown out attempting to steal a base eight times in his Buccaneer career. He swiped 18 of 19 bases in 2002.

Turner was also one of the top defensive outfielders in the nation, being named best defensive outfielder in the Southern Conference by Baseball America prior to the 2003 season.

Tim excelled in the wooden bat Coastal Plain League over the last two summers, establishing himself as one of the best prospects in the league. In 2002, Turner went 3-4 with a microscopic 1.22 ERA for the Wilson Tobs, striking out 95 batters in only 66.1 innings. Turner pitched a no-hitter that season against the Florence Seawolves, striking out five and walking two.

He pitched for the Wilmington Sharks in the summer of 2003, going 4-3 with a 2.74 ERA, three complete games and a shutout.

"The four years I spent at ETSU helped me so much," commented Turner. "I have already learned a lot of things that they are teaching in the organization. That is a credit to the coaching staff and the program they are building here at EastTennesseeState."